Tag Archives: Ayurveda

One out of three people will face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. While a regular yoga practice might not prevent cancer, it can certainly help ease the fear, anxiety, and emotional anguish that can come with it. Today’s guest, Dr. Timothy McCall, is a medical doctor and yoga teacher, who talks with us this week about his road to recovery from throat cancer. His story is an inspiring testimony to the power of a yoga and meditation during hard times.

Timothy shares how he discovered his cancer, how he chose his care team, and which asanas supported him through treatment. He also talks about the benefits of fasting prior to chemotherapy and radiation treatments. And how he both prepared for treatment and convalesced after treatment in Kerala, India with Ayurvedic treatments — and the effect they had on him. You can pre-order Timothy’s book, Saving My Neck: A Doctor’s East/West Journey Through Cancer on Amazon.

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SHOUT-OUT TO OUR SPONSORS

1. It’s been about a year since Sunbasket has been a sponsor of Yogaland. Each week, I get a Sunbasket box delivered to my door and I still get excited! The recipes are creative and delicious with organic produce and clean ingredients. I do the Paleo plan but there are many to choose from — Vegetarian, Vegan, Lean & Clean, Quick & Easy, & Mediterranean, to name just a few. Go to sunbasket.com/yogaland to get $35 off your first order.

2. I’m so delighted to have Fabletics as a sponsor! Their clothes fit so well — no, I do not feel like I am stuffing myself into a sausage casing. And the styles are seriously SO. CUTE. Plus, you literally cannot be their price point anywhere. As a special offer to Yogaland listeners, get TWO PAIRS OF LEGGINGS FOR $24. Yep, you read that correctly. Go to fabletics.com/yogaland and enter promo code YOGALAND at checkout.

3. Follain is a clean beauty retailer that believes that no one should have to compromise their health for beauty. They are uncompromising — some might say relentless — in the quest to find the best products. I have their Clean Essentials Kit and I love it — I’ve been using it while we travel and my very sensitive skin is happy and hydrated. You can try the Clean Essentials Kit today for $22 (that’s over 50% off!). Go to follain.com/yogaland to get four everyday, non-toxic skin essentials!

4. Instead of buying things new, Poshmark allows you to shop from millions of closets across America. When you download the Poshmark app, you’ll find clothes for women, men, and children. I found kids brands like Circo & Gap, and my own favorite brands like Anthropologie & Mother. Yogaland listeners get $5 off your first purchase! Just enter the invite code: YOGALAND when you sign up. That’s invite code: YOGALAND

This week’s episode focuses on adaptogenic herbs and nootropics, which are herbs and supplements that are thought to help us adapt to stress, improve cognitive function, and memory. They’re everywhere these days — in our smoothies, on the shelves of Whole Foods, in teas. And as with all trends, I both want to embrace anything and everything that’s said to improve health while simultaneously feeling completely skeptical.

So, I thought I’d have Ayurvedic practitioner, Niika Quistgard on the show to have a frank conversation about adaptogens and nootropics — what are they? Do they work? How do they work best? Does it make sense to throw them all in your smoothie and hope for the best? Niika, as always, offers an honest and interesting perspective.

We cover:

* What are adaptogenic herbs and how are they used in Ayurveda

* The process by which Ayurveda prescribes herbs–and how it differs from simply taking a pharmaceutical pill

* The thought process behind using supporting or carrying herbs, and why taking an adaptogenic herb with other herbs can boost the benefits and minimize side effects

* Why the form of the herb matters — in other words, whether it’s taken as a tea, a raw powder, in broth, in ghee, with honey, etc.

WRITE A YOGA PODCAST REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! It makes it easier for others to find the podcast. If you don’t know how to leave a review, here are some step by step instructions. Woohoo! So easy!

SHOUT-OUT TO OUR SPONSORS

1. It’s been about a year since Sunbasket has been a sponsor of Yogaland. Each week, I get a Sunbasket box delivered to my door and I still get excited! The recipes are creative and delicious with organic produce and clean ingredients. I do the Paleo plan but there are many to choose from — Vegetarian, Vegan, Lean & Clean, Quick & Easy, & Mediterranean, to name just a few. Go to sunbasket.com/yogaland to get $35 off your first order.

2. I’m so delighted to have Fabletics as a sponsor! Their clothes fit so well — no, I do not feel like I am stuffing myself into a sausage casing. And the styles are seriously SO. CUTE. Plus, you literally cannot be their price point anywhere. As a special offer to Yogaland listeners, get TWO PAIRS OF LEGGINGS FOR $24. Yep, you read that correctly. Go to fabletics.com/yogaland and enter promo code YOGALAND at checkout.

3. Follain is a clean beauty retailer that believes that no one should have to compromise their health for beauty. They are uncompromising — some might say relentless — in the quest to find the best products. I have their Clean Essentials Kit and I love it — I’ve been using it while we travel and my very sensitive skin is happy and hydrated. You can try the Clean Essentials Kit today for $22 (that’s over 50% off!). Go to follain.com/yogaland to get four everyday, non-toxic skin essentials!

4. Instead of buying things new, Poshmark allows you to shop from millions of closets across America. When you download the Poshmark app, you’ll find clothes for women, men, and children. I found kids brands like Circo & Gap, and my own favorite brands like Anthropologie & Mother. Yogaland listeners get $5 off your first purchase! Just enter the invite code: YOGALAND when you sign up. That’s invite code: YOGALAND

If you’re a vinyasa yoga practitioner you’re probably familiar with the term “building heat.” That might not sound so appealing to you right now, though–especially if you live somewhere that summer is hot and sticky enough without any additional heat, thank you very much.

This week on the podcast, our favorite Ayurvedic expert, Niika Quistgard, offers Ayurvedic summer self care tips. Niika has a gift for making the principles of Ayurveda easy to understand — once you learn them, you’ll know how to cool down and come back into balance.

She shares:

* How to adapt your lifestyle during pitta season–we get into how to approach your yoga practice, meditation, breathing techniques, and which foods to eat (and avoid) during pitta season

* A few specific poses and practices that are calming for pitta

* The one thing that’s even more important than you dominant dosha. (It’s all about balance, baby!)

* What Niika means when she talks about taking “self-leadership” on your yoga mat and in your life

* BONUS: Enjoy the soothing sounds of nature throughout this interview as Niika is talking to us outdoors among some particularly melodious birds.

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WRITE A YOGA PODCAST REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! It makes it easier for others to find the podcast. If you don’t know how to leave a review, here are some step by step instructions. Woohoo! So easy!

SHOUT-OUT TO OUR SPONSORS

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Niika Quistgard, Ayurvedic practitioner extraordinaire — is back! (She joined me on episode 17 for a great vata-calming episode. If you haven’t heard it, go back and listen to it. It’s a great foundation and complement to this one!)

On this episode Niika explains the Ayurvedic approach to nourishing ojas — thought to be our vital essence — during the winter and the holiday season. When ojas is strong, we feel content, stable, and grounded. When it gets depleted, our immunity goes down the tubes (my parlance, not hers 🙂

We got super-fancy and cross-cultural on this episode, because it turns out that the way to cultivate ojas is very similar to the Danish concept of hygge (think cozy socks, candlelight, and delicious spiced drinks). Niika also shares her approach to asana and pranayama for keep ojas tip top.

WRITE A YOGA PODCAST REVIEW
If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! It makes it easier for others to find the podcast. If you don’t know how to leave a review, here are some step by step instructions. Woohoo! So easy!

SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS
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This week my guest is Ayurvedic practitioner Niika Quistgard. Niika (@AyurMama) is an internationally-recognized consultant, trainer and practitioner in Ayurveda and is the founder of AyurMama.com.

Niika was the founder and director of Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women in Kerala, India — a full-service Ayurvedic residential hospital — where women came from more than 50 countries for treatment and educational immersion at the source of Ayurveda.

When I first learned the basics of Ayurveda years ago, I found it phenomenally helpful. I’d been living my life oblivious to how the environment around me affected my sensitive constitution, which made me alternately anxious or grouchy or ungrounded more often than was necessary. When I say the “environment around me,” I’m referring to everything from the weather, to the company of the people, to the room I work in all day long.

After years of practice, the principles that I’ve integrated into my life are second-nature. And they guide the way I eat, the way I practice, and the simple rituals I do if I need some grounding.

For this episode, Niika offered specific self-care ideas for calming the vata dosha when it goes out of balance. Whether you’ve never heard the words vata dosha uttered or you already know your prakruti, this episode offers enough background about Ayurveda paired with creative self care ideas and reminders that it will be helpful to everyone. Here are some more details about our conversation:

* We start with the basics — What is Ayurveda?
* How the three dosas form the unique blueprint of your constitution
* The qualities of the vata dosha
* What are the common things we do that cause vata imbalance?
* Why is vata imbalance so common?
* A morning routine to stay grounded
* Food choices for high vata times
* How can you practice or teach yoga during times when vata is running high?
* A simple way to take the calm state of Savasana with you after practice

“We used to laugh about the magazine article checklists of all the things you need to do to be more beautiful. We don’t need the checklist. We need the motherly attitude of, ‘What’s going make the difference for you today to be your best self?'” — Niika Quistgard

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Andrea Ferretti and Jason Crandell are a husband and wife team who have been teaching, writing about, and living their yoga for nearly two decades. Andrea is creative director for Jason Crandell Yoga Method. Jason is an internationally recognized vinyasa yoga teacher. They live together in San Francisco with their full-time boss, Sofia-Rose Crandell, age 5. To find out where you can train with Jason live, check out the Schedule page.